Author Topic: Current Trends  (Read 5419 times)

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Offline Caveoftreasures

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Current Trends
« on: May 20, 2013, 02:43:02 PM »
A couple of questions that might bring some things into perspective, and answer some current trends....

1.
The forum currently shows apx 1900 members.
Question - How many of those are guests, and how many are users
(it seems that guests outweigh users each day by 2 to 1. Example, guests logged in, 66, users logged in, 33)

Can a global email be done asking all guests to log in and try the USER system to encourage new members posting.
An invitation to post in the Introduce Yourself-Sunday Questionaire would be a great start.
There has to be a way to clean up the 1900 member list to really see what the real numbers are as at May 2013.
Those who joined n haven't logged in again ever, those who haven't logged in for years. How can we make the member list active yet current and encourage participation and work out just how realistic this 1900 member list is, or isn't.

2.
The "My Pinball Collection" section is great, but it needs updating overall without a doubt. I know many collections listed on
that section are years old and are no where near current. I would bet the majority of it is out of date except the regular 30 to 50 guys.
Some people can lose a lot of machines, some can add a lot of machines.
**Question - Can a global email be done asking people to update that thread, and by making the list current as at May 2013.

3.
I looked at the forums stats page, and worked out the following.
Member numbers joined, average over the last 12 months, April to April incl were apx 83 new members per month.
The previous 12 months average monthly join numbers to the above were 75.
The previous 12 months average monthly join numbers to the above were 43.
The previous 12 months average monthly join numbers to the above were 53.
The previous six months average was 43 new members per month.
Average per month joining since forum inception is apx 66 new members a month, or 80 a month new, if the last 24 months is considered only.

**Question - Can a global email be done to ask what it is about Aussie Pinball that these new members like, and what they feel they would need to become a active member versus guest only without any posts/threads done.

I just thought that once you work out what the current/real numbers of the forum really are, you then know what/who/how many people you are really talking about, so a plan to grow and modernise the forum could be looked at using relevant up to date statistics.

4.
Question -
Personally, I cant see why the forum has guest log in, why cant there just be a single username member log in/user log in that the active members use every day.
Like a local RSL, entering as a guest is limited to 3 per year, otherwise u have to become a full member.
Wouldn't this encourage new threads/posts and encourage fresh active join ups versus the current 66 percent guest only/no post/no new thread situation. Just an idea.
Why not implement something like the RSL idea ? or something else to clean up the 1900 ?? member list to something modernised n current, if that matters to anyone....??



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Offline Strangeways

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Re: Current Trends
« Reply #1 on: May 20, 2013, 03:46:31 PM »

I've split this post into it's own thread so it can be discussed in context.

"Guests" are not members. All a guest can see is topic headings and not the actual posts within the threads. We don't know who the guests are. The will most likely be spambots. However, the thread titles are searchable within google. We made this change in 2010 at attract members.

I'd have to look into the logs to find out the exact figures, but a quick look at the "awaiting activation" list was 6 valid accounts in 54 new accounts. That means there were 54 NEW accounts, but only 6 had valid email addresses. We used to delete these accounts as they appeared, but it is too time consuming to do all the time. We tend to delete the account if they manage to get past activation and then post.

Of the 1900 accounts, I'd say 10% would be active participants. Last time we "culled" the site, we caused "problems" with members that only wanted to lurk and not participate.
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Offline Caveoftreasures

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Re: Current Trends
« Reply #2 on: May 20, 2013, 04:34:30 PM »
1.
what does this mean then

without logging in, I can go to the front page of Aussie Pinball, click on the icon on the far left of the recent posts list, and it lets me read the last 10 or 15 recent posts.

does this only allow me to do this because the site matches my I.P address, or can anyone see the last 10 or 15 recents by doing the above. This backdoor alone, I thought woiuld have stopped people signing up so to speak because u can still view a lot of recent content.

2. anyway of a global email to fix up the "your collection" thread/game ownership lists.

3. anyway of cleaning up the 1900 members/culling like before, but do it based on say someone who hasn't logged in for say 6 months or more. must be a way to shave down numbers/ghosts to see what the real figures are and plan around that, somehow....getting rid of guests that aren't real guests would be another cull I guess, if it serves a purpose ?

anyone else got any good ideas please ?  !@#
Behind every garage door could be a pinball collectors
"Cave of Treasures" 55 in my collection

Into  Stern -JJP - Cars , Road Bikes- Jet Skis - Star Trek n Sci-Fi & Electronics    
Beware of Stalkers & Walkers when playing The Walking Dead

My 7yr old son Hunter is my best mate in the world !

Offline swinks

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Re: Current Trends
« Reply #3 on: May 20, 2013, 04:35:52 PM »
far enough Nino, I tried logging out and just looking around and to me was pointless as couldn't see much so when I saw "guests" always confused me, thanks for the explanation

interestingly when you click on the members you can see what members and guests are viewing and the guests are always on threads other than the last 10-15 posts ?????
« Last Edit: May 20, 2013, 04:37:50 PM by swinks »
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Offline pinsanity

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Re: Current Trends
« Reply #4 on: May 20, 2013, 04:43:45 PM »
Those "guests" are typically either spambots, web spiders or web crawlers for web indexing - i.e. not real people.


Offline Caveoftreasures

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Re: Current Trends
« Reply #5 on: May 20, 2013, 04:52:51 PM »
most ever logged in - 128 - November 04, 2012, 05:44:30 PM

how reliable are these figures from the stats page. I have never seen 128 people logged in ??  !@#

most logged in today - 51 - again, haven't seen 51 people logged in today. a half dozen at most at any one time today......and I wouldn't have thought 51 different active known members either. I have always liked the stats page, but its starting to give me more questions than answers.lol

another thing, is if we are averaging apx 80 new users each month for the past 2 years, where are all the new 960 plus 960 members. somethings strange.
why is the site, or how is the site logging 80 new members a month then ?  !@# !@#
« Last Edit: May 20, 2013, 04:57:04 PM by Caveoftreasures »
Behind every garage door could be a pinball collectors
"Cave of Treasures" 55 in my collection

Into  Stern -JJP - Cars , Road Bikes- Jet Skis - Star Trek n Sci-Fi & Electronics    
Beware of Stalkers & Walkers when playing The Walking Dead

My 7yr old son Hunter is my best mate in the world !

Offline Caveoftreasures

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Re: Current Trends
« Reply #6 on: May 20, 2013, 05:02:22 PM »
Another question ?

How come when u look at the page to see who is logged in and who is looking at what, why does it say guests are looking at/printing/logging in etc to the site, if guests cannot see or do anything.

Here is a screen copy. see what I mean about guests doing various things. but I thought the guests were spambots or whatever, or is it these spambots/spiders which are looking at these pages and printing these pages. doesn't make sense to me. me confused ?

Guest  04:20:04 PM Viewing the topic Show us your ride!.
Guest  04:19:50 PM Viewing the topic one more idea for the future of Aussie Pinball.
Guest  04:19:18 PM Viewing the board index of The Aussie Pinball Arcade.
Guest  04:19:11 PM Logging into the forum.
Guest  04:18:42 PM Viewing the board index of The Aussie Pinball Arcade.
Guest  04:18:26 PM Viewing the board index of The Aussie Pinball Arcade.
Online Retropin  04:17:55 PM Viewing unread topics since their last visit.
Guest  04:17:54 PM Printing the topic "Color DMD?".
Guest  04:17:50 PM Viewing the board index of The Aussie Pinball Arcade.
Guest  04:17:27 PM Viewing the board index of The Aussie Pinball Arcade.
Online pinsanity  04:16:54 PM Viewing the topic The Future Direction of Aussie Pinball.
Guest  04:15:50 PM Viewing the topic Current Trends.
Guest  04:15:35 PM Viewing the board index of The Aussie Pinball Arcade.
Guest  04:15:21 PM Viewing the topic Williams System 3-7 test bench.
Guest  04:14:53 PM Viewing the topic Black n White - Twilight Zone.
Online pinball god  04:14:39 PM Viewing the topic one more idea for the future of Aussie Pinball.
Guest  04:14:24 PM Viewing the topic Forum Rules & Etiquette.
Guest  04:14:10 PM Viewing the board index of The Aussie Pinball Arcade.
Guest  04:14:08 PM Viewing the topic Buck Rogers Restoration.
Guest  04:13:56 PM Viewing the topic Show us your ride!.
Guest  04:13:27 PM Viewing the topic Current Trends.
Behind every garage door could be a pinball collectors
"Cave of Treasures" 55 in my collection

Into  Stern -JJP - Cars , Road Bikes- Jet Skis - Star Trek n Sci-Fi & Electronics    
Beware of Stalkers & Walkers when playing The Walking Dead

My 7yr old son Hunter is my best mate in the world !

Offline Pop Bumper Pete

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Re: Current Trends
« Reply #7 on: May 20, 2013, 06:03:09 PM »
bots or spiders, they are going onto every page and clicking on every link on the page
the software is registering the click, not that it was blocked

Offline Strangeways

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Re: Current Trends
« Reply #8 on: May 20, 2013, 07:19:29 PM »
1.
what does this mean then

without logging in, I can go to the front page of Aussie Pinball, click on the icon on the far left of the recent posts list, and it lets me read the last 10 or 15 recent posts.

does this only allow me to do this because the site matches my I.P address, or can anyone see the last 10 or 15 recents by doing the above. This backdoor alone, I thought woiuld have stopped people signing up so to speak because u can still view a lot of recent content.

2. anyway of a global email to fix up the "your collection" thread/game ownership lists.

3. anyway of cleaning up the 1900 members/culling like before, but do it based on say someone who hasn't logged in for say 6 months or more. must be a way to shave down numbers/ghosts to see what the real figures are and plan around that, somehow....getting rid of guests that aren't real guests would be another cull I guess, if it serves a purpose ?

anyone else got any good ideas please ?  !@#

Answers to questions in numerical order ;

1 - Software Bug. Security update would fix this but the problem is low risk as you can't follow the flow of threads.

2 - Global email would go to the 1000+ of spam accounts created and not deleted. This would be an open invitation for spam.

3 - Manual process. Time consuming. Also disrupts the flow of some threads as deleted account posts will also be deleted.

All of the above would be effectively fixed with a software update and the ability to add more Admin mods to do cleanup etc.


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Offline Caveoftreasures

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Re: Current Trends
« Reply #9 on: May 20, 2013, 07:23:32 PM »
Thankyou.
Good to know how it works now.
Behind every garage door could be a pinball collectors
"Cave of Treasures" 55 in my collection

Into  Stern -JJP - Cars , Road Bikes- Jet Skis - Star Trek n Sci-Fi & Electronics    
Beware of Stalkers & Walkers when playing The Walking Dead

My 7yr old son Hunter is my best mate in the world !